It will be appreciated that one of the challenges in bowfishing is that one is typically bowfishing from an unstable platform such as a small boat, canoe or kayak. In this case appropriate positioning of the slide on the arrow is difficult as the platform is moving around. Moreover, one often leans over at an awkward angle from an embankment when bowfishing, again preventing positioning of the slide. The result is that when bowfishing one is typically firing the arrow at an unusual or unnatural shooting angle. This means that the arrow cannot easily be maintained against the bow riser and potentially result in misfiring.
Because of the instability of the platform, be it a canoe, kayak or the like or because of the awkward firing angle, oftentimes the little arm that hangs over the side of the bow riser and serves as a simple arrow rest is insufficient to maintain the arrow in the appropriate position against the riser. This is true when one leans around or moves around when taking a shot. The result is that when the arrow comes out of the simple arrow rest, the arrow and the fishing line can kick around so as to be dangerous, especially when one is trying to position himself for a shot from an awkward position. Thus the arrow will oftentimes come out of the arrow rest and if such occurs there is a serious risk of injury to either fisherman, hunter, other members of the party and potentially even the boat.
While in bowhunting and in bowfishing there are full containment rests, they have large annuli. The problem is that the arrow can slip around in the full containment rest which changes the rest point and changes the angle of the arrow.
Moreover, since the full containment rest lets one change the angle of the bow from vertical to as much as 30 degrees as one is bending over, these full containment arrow rests do not produce a reliable shot.
Thus, in addition the problem of safety of the arrow coming out of a simple arrow rest, there is also the problem of the arrow moving around in a full containment arrow rest which can cause the arrow to go off target.
By way of background, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,453 a slide is provided on an arrow to which is attached a fishing line. The purpose of a bowfishing slide is to make sure the string or line attached to the arrow to retrieve a fish stays in front of the handle so that when the arrow is released there is no chance of being caught up in the string.
It will be noted that the line or a string allows one to retrieve the arrow and fish or quarry that one is shooting at. It might be thought that one could simply use a traditional arrow and attach the string or line at the front of the arrow. However if one attaches the string at the front of the arrow it will cause the arrow to deflect sideways in flight. If however one attaches it at the rear of the arrow, the arrow is much more aerodynamically and hydrodynamically stable.
The problem however is that the string that is attached to the end of the arrow may come all the way back by the person's face as they are drawing the bow. When the string is flung forward after arrow release it can potentially come in contact with the person's face or hand or arm. From the above patent it can be seen that a slide is mounted on the arrow with the line attached, with the slide to always be in front of the bow handle. After release the slide moves forward and travels on the arrow, with the string or the line attached to the slide for retrieval. It is noted that the trailing edge of the arrow is provided with a stop that contacts the slide as the arrow moves away from the bow such that the arrow and the slide move forward in unison.
As will be appreciated the attachment of the line to the rearmost part of the arrow provides better aerodynamic stability than one would have if one did not have the slide.
The embodiment in the '453 patent has the slide positioned on the arrow ahead of the riser or bow handle so that line cannot get tangled in the hunter's or archer's hand or otherwise get tangled in elements of the bow. Thus, safety is provided because the line is always in front of the bow riser. However it is only with difficulty that this critical positioning can be maintained. This is because there is nothing to prevent the slide from sliding aft past the riser when the arrow is in place. Additionally, the '453 patent embodiment does not constrain the arrow, and allows for the arrow to be displaced from the riser as previously described.